


opportunities given

by displayheartcode



Category: Space Vehicles, Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Genre: Gen, Sad with a Happy Ending, in space no one can hear you cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 19:32:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17772887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/displayheartcode/pseuds/displayheartcode
Summary: Kit sees the Mars rover one last time.





	opportunities given

**Author's Note:**

> Oh god. I’m having emotions about an abandoned robot.
> 
> EDIT: no one told me I got the names mixed up.

The jumps to Mars were always disorienting at first. A moment for his eyes to adjust to the thin ochre air, the compressed oxygen spelled around him readjusting to his quickened breath, and there was that joy, almost childish in spirit, once the rest of his body caught up.

_Mars._

Kit blinked dust from his eyes. Rough sheets of pale rock appeared from under the layers of red-orange sand. Craters littered the area, dunes rolling in the distance where dust devils whirled in the hyper-thin atmosphere. All of his childhood dreams could never match how wondrous the view was. This was Mars. The center of numerous conversations and experiments, the background of hundreds of sci-fi novels that he would devour while sitting under the beech tree at home.

Last time he was here he'd been caught up in a wrong turn in the space-time continuum, nearly costing his life and endangering Earth. Now it was for an entirely different mission. Kit looked down at the ground, feeling the faint, faint pulse of old wizardry knotted in the planet.

Kit winced. _Sorry about that._

He made his way around the Glen Torridon area. He listened with a Wizard's ear, letting it guide him to a small crater where a machine was trying to back itself out of in a series of jerky movements. The two back wheels whirled impatiently, lifting into the air as the middle and front wheels stalled. The sundial was bent at an awkward angle, the antenna dented. The tail was bashed in and covered in a heavy layer of Martian dust.

_BEEP…help….BEEP…me…BEEP…BEEP…help…_

His heart clenched. Kit jumped in the crater behind the Opportunity Rover. "I got you, buddy," he said, tugging at the opening of his otherspace pocket for his manual. The book automatically opened to the page he needed, the text glowed and was slightly raised.

Basic physics, really, but even wizards needed to double-check their work when they were off-planet.

Kit worked the math with a dinky pen from his back pocket. Once satisfied, he drew the diagram around the rover with his noon-forged wand, the letters of the Speech flowing easily. Power crackled in the air, the symbols burning in the blue-white light that made him smile. No matter what happened, he could count on the Universe listening in some form.

"'I'm with you, Oppy," Kit said in Speech. He cracked his knuckles and let the spell run.

The power reached for him like a punch to the gut. The diagram burst into a melody of light, urging the rover to make it over and out of the crater. The wheels glided smoothly despite their age, the antenna perked up and Oppy chirped in surprise.

_BEEP…BEEP…wheeeeee….BEEP…wheeee…_

It eventually stopped rolling down the incline and the enthusiasm faded as Kit caught up with it.

He carefully cleaned Oppy free of dust, knowing that all of the monitoring equipment no longer worked. He fixed a few dents, refilled a wheel, made sure that some of the older parts were no longer aching in pain. When Kit was all done with repairs, he placed a hand on the rover's side and gave it a gentle pat.

Oppy pressed its antenna into Kit's hand, much like a dog nuzzling its owner.

_BEEP…I…am…BEEP…BEEP…tired…BEEP…battery….low….BEEP…getting….dark…_

With tears already spilling, Kit forced himself to look away. He had to follow Irina's instructions no matter how much he wanted to stay behind. _Everything ends at one point,_ she had told him. _It is up to us to make peace with that knowledge._

This was a good spot, he supposed as the sun tilted lower in the sky. A good and quiet place to rest.

"I know. Well met on the common journey, Oppy," Kit said through the lump in his throat. He wiped at his face, vision blurred with tears.

He vanished with the slight _pop_ of displaced air, the lightning scent of wizardry remained as a stiff wind picked up at the dust and sand.

Oppy looked toward the horizon. The sun was setting, and shadows descended over the Martian plain. Everything was slowly moving on, the stars burning in the sky, the ticking of entropy and the static hum of the cosmic microwaves in the background.

The rover sighed, almost-dream-like and organic in nature.

The lights turned on.

_BEEP…BEEP….in…Life's…BEEP…name…BEEP…_


End file.
